PART VI
METAPHYSICS

Volume V - Spiritual Liberty

Part V: PEARLS FROM THE OCEAN UNSEEN

'BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN'

The idea of mourning is distasteful to the world in general.
People say, 'Let us enjoy ourselves and be happy; there
is plenty of sorrow in the world without choosing to mourn,'
and they strive after happiness in whatever way they can.
But these passing and momentary joys do not give lasting
happiness, and the people who pursue them are either asleep
or dead. The soul's true happiness lies in experiencing
the inner joy, and it will never be fully satisfied with
outer seeming pleasures. Its connection is with God, and
nothing short of perfection will ever satisfy it. The purpose
of life is to become aware of our imperfections and to mourn
for them. The whole universe in miniature is within man,
and as the earth is composed of land and water, so the mind
of man is like land and water, the water is under the land,
and the land above the water. The land represents the thoughts
and imaginations, while the water represents the feelings.
And just as the water rises and falls, so it is with the
emotions and feelings of man. The people who only know the
lighter side of life, and who are afraid to have their feelings
touched, represent the land through which the water has
never pierced. If one wishes to see a foreign country, the
water has to be crossed, and so it is with those who wish
to fare forth to the world unseen. They have to cross the
river of feeling, and the land needs to be pierced in order
that the waters may rise.

Shiva is sometimes pictured with the sacred river flowing
out of his head, showing that man becomes Shiva-like when
his thoughts come not only from the head, but from the heart
also. It is the thoughts that spring from the depths of
the heart which become inspirations and revelations, and
these come from the hearts of awakened souls, called by
the Sufis, Sahib-i Dil. The bringers of joy are the
children of sorrow. Every blow we get in life pierces the
heart and awakens our feelings to sympathize with others,
and every swing of comfort lulls us to sleep, and we become
unaware of all. This proves the truth of these words, 'Blessed
are they that mourn.'

Thought is the more solid form of feeling, and needs
to be melted in order to become water. All water is the
same, but when it is bitter or sweet to the taste, it is
because some element of earth has become mixed with it.
And so it is with the emotions, in the water of feeling,
which have come in contact with things of the earth.

There are two classes of people in the world: those who
like comedy and those who like tragedy. Those who like tragedy
are the wise and thoughtful. Not because they like what
is tragic, but because they experience life through the
pain of tragedy, and they want to keep this experience at
the cost of pain.

Everybody has an ideal in life, and that ideal is the
religion of his soul, and coming short of that ideal is
what we term sin. The thoughtful and serious-minded man
repents in tears for his shortcomings, and thus proves himself
to be alive, while the shallow man is angry at his fall,
and is ready to blame those who seem to him to have caused
it. He is apparently dead. This shows that it is blessed
to mourn over our imperfections, and by so doing we are
striving after perfection, and thus fulfilling the command
of Christ, 'Be ye perfect, even as your Father, which is
in heaven, is perfect.'